This application relates to a surgical apparatus, and more particularly, to a mechanism for use with an endoscopic surgical apparatus for sequentially applying a plurality of surgical fasteners to body tissue and optionally incising fastened tissue.
Surgical devices wherein tissue is first grasped or clamped between opposing jaw structures and then joined by surgical fasteners are well known in the art. In some instruments a knife is provided to cut the tissue which has been joined by the fasteners. The fasteners are typically in the form of surgical staples but two part polymeric fasteners also can be utilized.
Instruments for this purpose can include two elongate members which are respectively used to capture or clamp tissue. Typically, one of the members carries a staple cartridge that houses a plurality of staples arranged in at least two lateral rows while the other member has an anvil that defines a surface for forming the staple legs as the staples are driven from the staple cartridge. Generally, the stapling operation is effected by cam bars that travel longitudinally through the staple cartridge, with the cam bars acting upon staple pushers to sequentially eject the staples from the staple cartridge. A knife can travel longitudinally between the staple rows to cut and/or open the stapled tissue between the rows of staples. Such instruments are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,079,606 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,675.
A later stapler disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,591 applies a double row of staples on each side of the incision. This is accomplished by providing a disposable loading unit in which a cam member moves through an elongate guide path between two sets of staggered staple carrying grooves. Staple drive members are located within the grooves and are positioned in such a manner so as to be contacted by the longitudinally moving cam member to effect ejection of the staples from the staple cartridge of the disposable loading unit. Other examples of such staplers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,429,695 and 5,065,929.
Each of the instruments described above were designed for use in conventional surgical procedures wherein surgeons have direct manual access to the operative site. However, in endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures, surgery is performed through a small incision or through a narrow cannula inserted through small entrance wounds in the skin. In order to address the specific needs of endoscopic and/or laparoscopic surgical procedures, endoscopic surgical stapling devices have been developed and are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,715 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,976 (Olson, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,023 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,221 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,013 (Green, et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,142 (Robinson, et al.).
One type of surgical stapling apparatus is configured to operate with disposable loading units (DLUs) that are constructed to support a staple cartridge and knife assembly therein. Once the procedure is completed, the entire DLU is discarded. Such instruments that are designed to accommodate DLUs purport to offer the advantage of a “fresh” knife blade for each firing of the instrument. Examples of such surgical stapling apparatuses and DLUs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,361 to Milliman et al., the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
Some conventional endoscopic surgical cutting and stapling systems incur instances of faulty lockout after the cartridge has been fired, whether partial or complete. Furthermore, in such conventional endoscopic surgical cutting and stapling systems mechanical detection of spent cartridges is inconsistent. Some conventional endoscopic surgical cutting and stapling systems incorporate excessive mechanical and polymeric components, which can be overcome with forces generated in normal deployment of the endoscopic device and thus overcome the lockout mechanism. Therefore, it would be extremely beneficial to provide a surgical cutting and stapling device for use during laparoscopic and/or endoscopic surgical procedures that provides reliable partial or complete spent cartridge lockout functionality. It also would be particularly beneficial if the device could perform multiple tasks, using DLUs of varying size and of varying purpose, such as, for example, to staple, clip, cut and/or articulate and provide an energy activated continuity lockout system and a display device.